‖[ Babylonian. ] n. 1. a demigod or first man: "seed of mankind"; sometimes identified with Adam. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. 1 extinct small mostly diurnal lower primates that fed on leaves and fruit; abundant in North America and Europe 30 to 50 million years ago; their descendents probably include the lemurs and lorises; some authorities consider them ancestral to anthropoids but others consider them only cousins.
Syn. -- Adapid group [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Fitted; suited. [ Obs. ] Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Adapted; p. pr. & vb. n. Adapting. ] [ L. adaptare; ad + aptare to fit; cf. F. adapter. See Apt, Adept. ] To make suitable; to fit, or suit; to adjust; to alter so as to fit for a new use; -- sometimes followed by to or for. [ 1913 Webster ]

For nature, always in the right,
To your decays adapts my sight. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

Appeals adapted to his [ man's ] whole nature. Angus. [ 1913 Webster ]

Streets ill adapted for the residence of wealthy persons. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being adapted. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. The quality of being adaptable; suitableness. “General adaptability for every purpose.” Farrar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. adaptation, LL. adaptatio. ] 1. The act or process of adapting, or fitting; or the state of being adapted or fitted; fitness. “Adaptation of the means to the end.” Erskine. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The result of adapting; an adapted form. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 having a capacity for adaptation. Opposed to maladaptive.
Syn. -- adaptive, adaptative [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Adaptive. Stubbs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being adapted; suitableness; special fitness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who adapts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chem.) A connecting tube; an adopter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Adaptation. Cheyne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Suited, given, or tending, to adaptation; characterized by adaptation; capable of adapting. Coleridge. -- A*dapt"ive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. The quality of being adaptive; capacity to adapt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Astron.) an optical system used in some telescopes since the 1980's which rapidly changes the shape of the primary reflecting mirror to adjust for distortions of light which are caused by atmospheric turbulence. By reducing the distortions caused by the atmosphere, telescopes fitted with such optics can achieve a higher resolving power than normal telescopes with static mirrors. [ PJC ]

n. 1. (Palaeontology) the evolutionary generation of multiple specialized life forms from one ancestral form, evidenced in the fossil record. The inverse of extinction. [ PJC ]

adv. In a suitable manner. [ R. ] Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Adaptedness. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Adaptive. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Hungary. Population (2000) = 2, 008, 546. [ PJC ]

n. a genus consisting of only one species, the leatherleaf.
Syn. -- genus Chamaedaphne. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Mutual adaption. R. Owen. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Adapted one to another; as, coadapted pulp and tooth. R. Owen. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ Cf. Dip. ] (Angling) To drop the bait gently on the surface of the water. [ 1913 Webster ]

To catch a club by dapping with a grasshoper. Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. dapaticus, fr. daps feast. ] Sumptuous in cheer. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., a laurel tree, from Gr. da`fnh. ] 1. (Bot.) A genus of diminutive Shrubs, mostly evergreen, and with fragrant blossoms. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Myth.) A nymph of Diana, fabled to have been changed into a laurel tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) A colorless crystalline substance, C9H6O4, extracted from daphnin. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. ] (Zool.) A genus of the genus Daphnia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. daphnine. ] (Chem.) (a) A dark green bitter resin extracted from the mezereon (Daphne mezereum) and regarded as the essential principle of the plant. [ R. ] (b) A white, crystalline, bitter substance, regarded as a glucoside, and extracted from Daphne mezereum and Daphne alpina. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. da`fnh the laurel + -mancy. ] Divination by means of the laurel. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., daps a feast + ferre to bear. ] One who brings meat to the table; hence, in some countries, the official title of the grand master or steward of the king's or a nobleman's household. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. daper; prob. fr. D. dapper brave, valiant; akin to G. tapfer brave, OHG. taphar heavy, weighty, OSlav. dobrŭ good, Russ. dobrui. Cf. Deft. ] Little and active; spruce; trim; smart; neat in dress or appearance; lively. [ 1913 Webster ]

He wondered how so many provinces could be held in subjection by such a dapper little man. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The dapper ditties that I wont devise. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sharp-nosed, dapper steam yachts. Julian Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A dwarf; a dandiprat. [ r. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Icel. depill a spot, a dot, a dog with spots over the eyes, dapi a pool, and E. dimple. ] One of the spots on a dappled animal. [ 1913 Webster ]

He has . . . as many eyes on his body as my gray mare hath dapples. Sir P. Sidney.

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Dappled p. pr. & vb. n. Dappling. ] To variegate with spots; to spot. [ 1913 Webster ]

The gentle day, . . .
Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The dappled pink and blushing rose. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , a. Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some dapple mists still floated along the peaks. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The word is used in composition to denote that some color is variegated or marked with spots; as, dapple-bay; dapple-gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

His steed was all dapple-gray. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

O, swiftly can speed my dapple-gray steed. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ For divedapper. See Dive, Dap, Dip, and cf. Dabchick. ] (Zool.) See Dabchick. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Dive, Didapper. ] (Zool.) A water fowl; the didapper. See Dabchick. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an extinct heavy-bodied reptile of the late Paleozoic having a dorsal sail or crest. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Lack of adaptation; unsuitableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Perhaps for sheld dapple. Cf. Sheldrake. ] (Zool.) A chaffinch. [ Written also sheldapple, and shellapple. ] [ 1913 Webster ]